Black Knight – Chapter 28

TL Note: Uh… I somehow just realized that all this tournament arcs seems to be just the qualifiers to decide who represents the Empire in an international tournament… uhh… I had somehow been under the illusion that it was an intranational affair… I don’t think it should matter too much to you readers due to slow updates and short memories, but this really bugs me for having made such a big mistake… Oh, but don’t worry, I think the tournament gets interrupted, so there won’t be more tournament arc stuff, I think… – A sheepish Elephant No. 5

Chapter 28 – Qualifiers, Final Day (Part 3)

General Audience Seating

“Wow…what surprising strength.”

Uncle Byron folded his arms as he mulled over the match between Brandon and Amy.

Well, I could understand his sentiments.

Thanks to the protection spell, no one would die, but it was fortunate that her opponent was Brandon.

Even I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of that explosion.

The arena floor was a mess.

Some soldiers were currently repairing the arena.

Sheesh, even with the protection spell, that power was really something.

“I guess there are two more matches left now. I thought Sir Knight would definitely be the winner, but I’m a bit worried after having seen the strength of all the other Commanders.”

Uncle Byron scratched his head.

The finals were on a completely different level from the previous matches.

This year’s participants were far stronger than the participants of previous tournaments. It was a gathering of monsters.

Well, until Commander Chie came, I was the monster of all monsters.

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. Even if I threw everything I had against the Commander, I would still lose, you know?”

“For real? Can’t you claim to be stronger than the other commanders, aside from Sir Knight?”

Uncle Byron looked surprised.

Alice giggled at our conversation.

“Well, Elder Brother.”

Uncle Byron raised his eyebrows.

“‘Elder Brother’, is it? You used to call him ‘Brother’.”

“Ah, how nostalgic.”

Uncle Byron made me remember how Alice used to be.

She was really feminine back then, unlike now.

She had not had any interest in martial arts at the time, and had constantly pestered mom to teach her how to cook and make sweets instead. She had not been interested in anything unfeminine.

The way she always clung to me, like a little chick, while calling out ‘Brother! Brother!’ was extremely cute.

I used to think, “I’m not giving my little sister to anybody!”

However, she had been completely corrupted by the palace servants. Now, she beat up monsters with martial arts in her free time, and grinned ominously at corrupt nobles.
She occasionally met with other servants at a secret location, doing something behind the scenes.

Honestly, I didn’t even want to know what she was up to.

I had accidentally seen something once.

One time, when we were arresting a certain corrupt noble, I saw a group of servants observing while smirking.

Of course, Alice was in that group.

Come to think of it, that noble had surrendered…

Those servants must have done something!!

Well, I was a bit worried about my little sister’s future.

I was supporting Claude, but I had an ulterior motive.

Seriously, I couldn’t think of anybody who was more suitable for Alice, in more ways than one.

More ways than one!!

“Elder Brother? What are you thinking about?”

――――Gasp!

I thought that I could hear something grinding behind me, and I turned to face Alice.

Alice was smiling.

Her smile looked the same as always, but it felt like I was staring into an endless abyss.

“N-Nothing. I was just wondering when the next match would start.”

“Is that so?”

My face twitched as I lied, and the darkness disappeared from Alice’s smile.

She probably wasn’t fooled, but at least the dark abyss of “Don’t think anymore rude things” was gone.

I felt cold sweat on my back.

I took a glance at Uncle Byron and saw that his face had also stiffened.

When I looked around, I saw that people who had overheard our conversation and seen Alice’s dark smile were showing similar reactions.

Why couldn’t the next match hurry up and start already?

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Arena Floor

My match against Celes was next.

We stood on opposite ends of the arena, our weapons in hand.

I had to be extra careful of her wooden spear.

It had a long shaft, and each strike would contain a considerable amount of force.

In addition to that, the peculiar speed of a spearman was troublesome.

Frankly, I would have liked to have Sakuya right now.

My bokutou didn’t have a scabbard, so I couldn’t use iaido.

Well, I had never stopped practicing kendo after coming to this world, in order to try to perfect my technique, but I had never actually used it in a real battle.

However, now was the perfect chance to try it out.

Which one was faster? Her spear or my katana?

It would be the same with Mr. Musclehead, though.

“Are you two ready?”

The referee asked.

We nodded, readied our weapons, and looked at the referee.

“Ready… Begin!!”

At the referee’s signal, Celes decisively rushed forward.

She thrust her spear at me, but I parried with my bokutou.

I countered with a slash, but she deftly blocked it with the shaft of her spear.

Spears were designed for thrusting, but that wasn’t the only way to use one.

One could block attacks with the shaft, just as she had done.

The long shaft of the spear could be swung in different directions to knock an opponent down.

It could act as both an edged and a blunt weapon, and because of its length, it had a long range.

However, if I could get in close, I would have the advantage.

Now, what to do?

I backflipped to dodge a sweep of the spear, and then did it two more times to create some distance. Then, I prepared my sword.

Celes also readied her spear while watching me.

When I looked closely, I could see that her breathing was a bit heavy. It had been that way since she first charged at me.

Well, it was only natural. Mr. Musclehead and Celes were definitely tired out from their matches.

Even then, I could tell from our exchanges that she didn’t seem to have any intention of losing and wanted to end the fight quickly, so that she could save as much energy as possible for the next match.

However, what was this feeling?

If she came at me in her current state, that was probably a good thing for me, right?

No, it wasn’t like that.

In this half a year, I had learned that she had a habit of making light of ordinary opponents when she was tired.

I knew her personality well, to the point that I knew all the bad parts.

No matter what situation she was in, when she was against a strong opponent, she would grin.

In short, she was a battle maniac.

The stronger her opponent, the sharper her expression became.

Long story short, the Celes in front of me had that kind of ecstatic expression.

I could tell from her face that she saw me as an opponent worth going all out against.

I was happy at the thought, but I couldn’t help marveling at how much I had changed.

Until half a year ago, I had been ostracized by all the high school girls, due to my childhood friend.

I couldn’t help being happy that somebody who had acknowledged me as worthy of their full strength was standing in front of me.

That was why I decided to answer her with my full strength.

My strength was something I had gotten from Amaterasu-sama, but I had cultivated my skills during this half a year.

Of course, I had to hold back my strength, but I would use my skills without reserve.

That was what the current me could do to answer her.

I took a deep breath, stepped back with my right foot, and held the sword at my side, pointing down.

It is extremely boring. It’s not even just Chie, there hasn’t been a single upset by anyone anywhere in the entire tournament. Every single match can basically be summed up as, “exactly the result you would have expected”. It could have been summarized in a single chapter yet the author feels the need to ramble on and on and on.

I enjoyed the earlier chapters of this novel but not this arc. I just want it to end already.

I think it’s because they didn’t really flesh out the characters’ background or motives that are involved much, so you barely cared for each one of them (aside from Chie) during this arc. My guess is that the author wanted to move beyond this part of the story as quickly as possible or they’re planning to do that in future chapters.

“I don’t think it should matter too much to you readers due to slow updates and short memories”

Your first mistake was assuming that I wouldn’t simply re-read this story to make up for both my short memory and the slow updates! Ha! (Although really, it might’ve been mentioned in the past, and I skimmed over it all the same. Because I don’t recall that part, either.)

In all seriousness, that does change the context of this arc quite a bit. Especially the sabotage in the previous matches, where their weapon enhancements were sufficient to actually hurt the other participants.

My long term memory does properly recall that these were prelims to a multinational tournament, specifically to select representatives. And of course to give the people at home a show, and such added benefits, but that’s unmentioned.

Also, there was no sabotage in the early matches. The magician corps’ captain was in charge of magical strengthening for all weapons just like usual, but due to Chie’s miracle training she didn’t know her own strength and overdid the buffs. No sabotage, just honest mistakes!

Thanks for the chapter! Always glad to see an update for this series. As for the tournament at least the prelims are over… shame there is still an international level… I hope their is a way to make that part more enjoyable as this arc hasn’t been as engaging as the previous ones. Now that I think about it I don’t think I have ever seen a good tournament arc. They are always the lame duck of arcs.
I still have high hopes for this series though the characters are quite enjoyable :D

Someone can explain me why Conrad isn’t participating in this tournament? I know he won the tournament before, but that was a year before? I don’t get it. I thought he was going to have a final match against Chie.